Demography and Population Calculations

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DemographyandPopulation Calculations
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How do we get population information?

• Censuses a collection of data about a
  population
• Started in early Roman times
• Doomsday Book England 1066 one of the best
  known modern tallies of population
• Collected through enumerators that go
  door-to-door (LDCs), or deliver censuses that
  are to be mailed back to the government (MDCs)

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What kind of information is collected?

• population gender
• religion age
  nationality occupation
  language home ownership
  education marital status
  household income possessions

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Inaccuracies with data collection

• Homelessness
• Fear of entering slums and crime-ridden areas
• Isolation
• Confusion
• Privacy Issues
• Reputation
• Interpretation of questions and data

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Problems that result from inaccuracies

• Unfair political representation
• Unfair levels of funding
• Lack of funding for homeless people
• Product Failure
• Faulty economic policies
• Difficulty in comparing nations

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How often do we conduct a census?

• Frequency of censuses varies depending on the
  nation and their resources. It is very expensive
  to conduct a census and it requires a lot of
  people to collect the data.
• In Canada every 5 years
• The Canadian government employs 4000 (Stats
  Canada), 500 work in the census department.
• Canada hires 50,000 people on short-term
  contracts in a census year to work as
  enumerators.

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Population Density

• This is the number of people living in an area it
  does not take into account the area that is not
  liveable.
• It only looks at total land area.
• A more precise and useful calculation would be to
  look at the population density of arable land.

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Important Population Calculations

• Birth Rate measures the total of births in a
  year per thousand.
• Total births/Total population x 1000

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Important Population Calculations

• Death Rate measures the total of deaths in a
  year per 1000
• Total deaths/Total Population x 1000
• Death rates have been falling throughout the
  world for the last of years. The typical death
  rate for less developed nations is about 16/1000.
  Canada is 7/1000. Young children under 1 year of
  age are more vulnerable to disease and death than
  older children.

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Important Population Calculations

• Infant Mortality Rate measures the of deaths
  of infants (lt1 year old) per 1000 births. In
  Canada it is about 9/1000 while in less
  developing countries it can be as high as
  150-198/1000.
• Total Infant deaths/Total live births x 1000

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Important Population Calculations

• Life expectancy is defined as the average life
  span of individuals. It is high in the developed
  countries, (Canada 75), and low in the less
  developed countries, (Gambia 43). Life expectancy
  is increasing in most countries and the female
  average is 3-4 years more than males. To
  compensate for this male babies normally
  outnumber females by 5 throughout the world.

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• The annual rate of population growth equals the
  birth rate (BR) minus the death rate (DR)
• BR-DR RNI
• Make it a percentage, move denominator from 1000
  to 100 e.g. 9/1000 0.9/100 0.9

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Total Fertility Rate

• The TFR indicates the average number of children
  a woman would have in her lifetime if the annual
  fertility rates remained constant.
• It depends on factors such as culture, religion
  and economic status
• It tends to be higher in less developed countries

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Replacement Level

• For a country to maintain its level of population
  if no migration were to take place, a certain
  fertility rate must be achieved.
• It is about 2.1 children per female in MDCs and
  about 2.5 children per female in LDCs.

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Net Migration Rate

• difference between the immigration ( people
  moving in) rate and emigration (people moving
  out) rate
• (immigration rate emigration rate 1000)

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Important Population Calculations

• Dependency Ratio Can be determined from a
  population pyramid and is based on the assumption
  that most members of certain age groups of a
  population (the very young and the very old) do
  not work
• The working age is generally between 15 and 64.

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Important Population Calculations

• Dependency Ratio
• under 15 over 64
• of potential labour force (15-64)
• Example Canada 1961
• 33.88.4/57.8 0.73
• Each member of the potential labour force
  supports him/herself plus 0.73 additional people
  (or 73 dependents for every 100 people in the
  labour force)

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Important Population Calculations

• Is this accurate?
• Many Canadians stay in school until their
  early-late 20s
• Many others retire before they are 65